Ask me why,don't tell me why: Asking children for explanations facilitates relational thinking

Identifying abstract relations is essential for commonsense reasoning. Research suggests that even young children can infer relations such as “same” and “different,” but often fail to apply these concepts. Might the process of explaining facilitate the recognition and application of relational concepts? Based on prior work suggesting that explanation can be a powerful tool to promote abstract reasoning, we predicted that children would be more likely to discover and use an abstract relational rule when they were prompted to explain observations instantiating that rule, compared to when they received demonstration alone. Five- and 6-year-olds were given a modified Relational Match to Sample (RMTS) task, with repeated demonstrations of relational (same) matches by an adult. Half of the children were prompted to explain these matches; the other half reported the match they observed. Children who were prompted to explain showed immediate, stable success, while those only asked to report the outcome of the pedagogical demonstration did not. Findings provide evidence that explanation facilitates early abstraction over and above demonstration alone.     

Early formal schooling: Are we promoting achievement or anxiety?

The resurgence of interest in early childhood education has been accompanied by an active debate about the most developmentally beneficial approach to preschool instruction. Some experts and the major early childhood organizations in this country advocate a child-centered or developmentally appropriate approach, whereas other experts advocate a teacher-directed, didactic approach. Until recently, the empirical evidence available to inform this controversy has been woefully thin. This article reviews the social and theoretical parameters of this debate about preschool instruction, articulates the core dimensions that have been portrayed as distinguishing child- from teacher-directed curricula, and examines the available research that can inform the debate. Our conclusions support those who encourage the adoption of child-centered curricula. Didactic approaches appear to undermine young children's motivation in and enjoyment of school in the short term and to have either neutral or negative ramifications for long-term achievement, despite some evidence of short-term gains.     

Using Skills Gained Through Volunteerism in Job Searches: A Workable Strategy

A number of recent theoretical and empirical articles have examined various aspects of volunteerism. Research which has established the increasing importance of career development as a primary goal of many volunteers has largely been concerned with individuals already established in their careers. This article extends current research by focusing on recent or soon-to-be college graduates. It integrates career-development volunteerism research with recent work from the job search literature. The paper includes specific suggestions for obtaining volunteer experience which targets employer-identified desirable job skills.     

Paul Gray's narrowing scope: a "developmental lag" in his theory and technique

A cental thesis of Paul Gray's work is that a "developmental lag" pervades modern psychoanalysis in its failure to assimilate and apply knowledge gained about the role of the unconscious ego in intrapsychic life. But Gray himself, it is proposed, has become a victim of a new "developmental lag," of his own construction. As he somewhat single-mindedly pursued the ramifications of his "developmental lag" concept, Gray may have foreclosed on some noteworthy ideas developing around him. The most important example is his claim--herein refuted--that proper interpretive technique can avoid being infused with transference. He also seems to have rejected the theoretical importance of the internalization of the analyst and the clinical usefulness of countertransference. While emphasizing defense analysis, he ignores defenses such as splitting, denial, and disavowal as substantive problems for his technique of close-process attention. Gray's "undoing" of the rapprochement between "ego analysis" and "id analysis" by viewing the matter as an either-or proposition undermines the very real value of his contribution to the field.     

Age,executive function,and social decision making: a dorsolateral prefrontal theory of cognitive aging

Current neuropsychological models propose that some age-related cognitive changes are due to frontal-lobe deterioration. However, these models have not considered the possible subdivision of the frontal lobes into the dorsolateral and ventromedial regions. This study assessed the age effects on 3 tasks of executive function and working memory, tasks dependent on dorsolateral prefrontal dysfunction; and 3 tasks of emotion and social decision making, tasks dependent on ventromedial prefrontal dysfunction. Age-related differences in performance were found on all tasks dependent on dorsolateral prefrontal dysfunction. In contrast, age-related differences were not found on the majority of the tasks dependent on ventromedial prefrontal dysfunction. The results support a specific dorsolateral prefrontal theory of cognitive changes with age, rather than a global decline in frontal-lobe function.     

Gender-related biases in evaluations of sex discrimination allegations: is perceived threat the key?

Hypotheses derived from defensive attribution theory and social identity theory were tested in 3 laboratory experiments examining the effects of plaintiff and observer gender on perceived threat, plaintiff identification, and sex discrimination. In Study 1, women differentiated plaintiffs on the basis of gender, whereas men did not. Study 2 showed that this bias occurred because employment discrimination was personally threatening to women but not to men. In Study 3, the bias was reversed in a child custody context. As predicted, men found this context to be significantly more threatening than did women and subsequently exhibited a similarity bias. Mediation analyses suggested that responsibility attributions explained most of the variance in discrimination judgments associated with the plaintiff gender by observer gender interactions.     

Behavioral and electrical brain measures of semantic priming in patients with Alzheimer's disease: implications for access failure versus deterioration hypotheses

This study investigated the nature of anomia and semantic memory deficits in patients with Alzheimer's disease (DAT). We measured reaction time (RT) and the N400 event-related brain potential (ERP) in a word-picture semantic priming paradigm for DAT patients and elderly controls. For patients, pictures were classified as a function of the individual's naming ability to determine whether naming deficits reflected a failure to access a picture's name or reflected a deterioration of its semantic representation. As expected, DAT patients had significantly poorer naming performance than controls. For successfully named pictures, robust RT and ERP priming effects were obtained in both groups. In DAT patients, priming for unnamed pictures was heterogeneous. The results are discussed in terms of current hypotheses of semantic memory deficits in DAT.     

Pharmacologic treatment of body dysmorphic disorder: review of the evidence and a recommended treatment approach

Research on effective pharmacotherapy for body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) has rapidly increased in recent years, with emerging data consistently indicating that serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SRIs) are often efficacious for this disorder. Although data are limited, it appears that higher SRI doses and longer treatment trials than those used for many other psychiatric disorders are often needed to treat BDD effectively. Approaches to treatment-resistant BDD have received little investigation, but available data indicate that switching to another SRI and several SRI-augmentation strategies may be helpful. This article reviews the empirical literature on BDD and offers a recommended approach to the pharmacotherapy of this distressing and often disabling disorder.     

Attempted suicide among young rural women in the People's Republic of China: possibilities for prevention

This article reports on a sample of 147 women under age 35 living in rural areas in China who had attempted suicide and were treated in the emergency room of hospitals in four different locations. The interview instrument took 2 to 3 hours to complete and included audiotaped in-depth interviews with the patient and family members (separately); detailed evaluation of the circumstances surrounding the attempt, life events, and the family environment; and a formal psychiatric evaluation by an attending-level psychiatrist. Overwhelmingly, the method used by the attempters was poisoning with highly lethal pesticides and organic fertilizers. The women's suicidal behavior was characterized by high levels of impulsivity; little effort to seclude themselves before and after ingesting poison; and low rates of mental illness, including depression. Detailed suggestions are made about ways to implement suicide prevention strategies within the particular social and economic context of China.